The River Pastor Louis Sparks speaks during a Sunday worship service at the Mission Oak High School cafeteria in Tulare. / Photo courtesy of The River

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The River in Tulare during a Sunday worship service at the Mission Oak High School cafeteria. / Photo courtesy of The River

The River in Tulare during a Sunday worship service at the Mission Oak High School cafeteria. / Photo courtesy of The River

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Name/Address: The River, 3442 E. Bardsley Ave., Tulare (meets at the Mission Oak High School cafeteria)

What to expect Sunday mornings: We are a mixed bunch of people from various backgrounds and different walks of life. We get together each week in a large group setting to celebrate this incredible and wonderful God who loves us so much and whose qualities and characteristics are nothing if not worthy of our esteem and praise. We have a casual approach to ourselves—one should never take oneself so seriously he cannot see others as worthy of his time and energy—but we take how God would have us be and how He would have us encourage one another very seriously. Our “style” is relaxed, but reverential to Him; we hang out, share some refreshments and enjoy one another’s company as we hear from Him through His word to us and His spirit in us. We try and let Him lead as we let Him transform us into the men and women He dreamt of from before time.

Mission Statement: We wouldn’t call it a mission statement, but... “In a season of transition and maturing in our church family, God spoke to the leadership…Give it all away, grow people and go wherever I send you.”

Outreach: For the past year and a half, the Sundale Foundation in Tulare has allowed us to use the V Center located in The Villa, a neighborhood on the East side of Tulare, to provide weekly children's ministry to neighborhood children. There are 20 to 30 children who attend. We also have 15 adult volunteers from The River and followers of Christ, also in Tulare, who are led by our Pastor Tammie Bock.

The River also partners with Lighthouse Rescue Mission on a regular basis.

Recently, The River has led the way for a new ministry, River TEC (Training and Equipping Center) to be founded on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. They “have a God-focused vision of a training and equipping center ministry for the nurturing and maturing of those answering God’s call to give, grow and go.”

Members of The River travel at least twice a year to different locations in the Philippines doing medical missions, children and youth ministry, building projects, development of River TEC and whatever else God leads them to.

Services: We meet at 10 a.m. on Sundays in the cafeteria of Mission Oak High School. It is located at the back (North side) of the school.

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